Mari Vawn Bailey

Born and raised in Montana, Mari Vawn is a prairie girl at heart with an ongoing hankering to travel and know the peoples and cultures of the world; she has never had a boring life. She has enjoyed living in Montana, Mexico, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, and Utah. She began keeping her first journal and a diary at age 10 and decades later has several boxes full. A good reader ever since grade school, she began writing then on a variety topics and formats for diverse audiences. Since then she has been researching and writing nearly every year of her life on the job, and in personal and academic life. For example, she has 30 refereed academic papers and workshops presented at academic conferences, 8 scholarly articles published, and many articles from freelance feature writing. As a seeker of truth and beauty, she loves to learn new things and loves all kinds of paper, the color purple, walks in nature, reading, writing, and travel.

As a professor and Chair of doctoral candidates at Walden University, a non-fiction author, editor, reviewer, book publisher, technical writer, and a former English teacher, words and books are tools of Mari Vawn Bailey's profession. "When I was 10, I never could have imagined how this life-long habit of record-keeping would later save our lives," she explains. "40 years ago in 1976 and 1977 when I was in Mexico on a 14-month journey of doing all possible to find my missing daughter Marita, words were a companion and comfort to me as tools that saved my sanity and were crucial tools in recovering my daughter." After they returned safely to the USA, some years passed. She began writing the book Marita: Missing in Mexico, which was published in 1996, drawn from the four journals she kept during that ordeal. Two years later the Marita Perdida version was published in Spanish.

The world has changed incredibly since 1976, but the basics of enduring a personal ordeal successfully and ways of learning from trials we experience in our lives continues to be relevant. Now In 2016 in commemoration of this 40th anniversary of those events and miracles in 1976-77, Digital Legend is making this Marita book available for a new generation of readers. From http://www.digitalegend.com/catalog you will see the Digital Legend Library page for ordering it. Or, to order the book, call toll free 877-222-1960. To order a signed book in Spanish call 801-735-4767.

After graduation with a B.A. in English and Spanish with a secondary teaching certificate from Brigham Young University, she lived and taught in Mexico for six years. Instilled with a life-long love of learning, she earned a master's degree in ESL Materials Development and Instructional Science at BYU, which made all the difference in being able to provide well for her family as a single mom for many years.

She was a small business owner as President of Liahona Developmental Systems, Inc. for 27 years and often worked as an independent contractor for the design, development, and writing of educational and inspirational books, programs, and training. She and her husband Bill Tinney enjoy life in their retirement home in Eagle Mountain, Utah, where they serve as CERT volunteers. She researches, writes books, and works part time at home with her online doctoral students from all over the USA who attend Walden. They have a combined family of 10 children with 22 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren, most of whom live too far away to see very often but are dearly loved and treasured! She loves life, her family, and her many friends around the world!

Currently (Fall 2016) she is a co-editor with Scott Ferrin for the new book In the Spirit of Jershon, which is under contract and is in process for publication for a print on demand book and an eBook this year. This book is to inform the general population to improve views and practices for cross-cultural experiences, intercultural communication, and diversity for interactions with those who are different among us. It also examines academic opportunities for minority students, refugees, and Hispanic learners. Besides editing and managing the majority of the book publication steps, she wrote 7 chapters of the 20 chapters.

Dr. Mari Vawn Tinney holds a PhD in Instructional Technology from Utah State University (in 2007), which further prepared her for 10 years of recent fulfilling work experience as an instructional designer, author, corporate trainer, and professor in online/distance education for corporations and universities. So far, she has taught at several universities and in public, private, and church schools for 21 years, on all levels as a professional educator for K-12, college, government, and adult ed institutions. She taught at BYU, at Western Governors University, and now at Walden. With extensive instructional design experience (15 years), for example, she has researched, designed, developed, delivered, or evaluated 19 language-related courses on all levels of language proficiency. She has worked full time for companies such as: Ford Motor Company, General Electric, IMS Global Learning Consortium, and Imagine Learning English.